Here's a review on a little 18v ozito chainsaw I got recently.
Whilst I like to carry a saw with me when leaving the van at home and doing more remote type travels, I wasn't sure if this would appeal to as many on here.
If you still take a saw along when vanning, this might be something that is of interest to you.
I've been hearing lots of discussion about electric/cordless chainsaws,mainly on the 4wd forums visit , so I started doing a bit of poking about.
Since I already had (paid for myself) an ozito power x change pruner kit (mini saw and hedge trimmer on pole) I thought I'd have a look at their chainsaw skin to work with the same 18v battery. As you may or may not know, I have a youtube channel I like to put stuff on and had done some reviews on the kit mentioned above. Since I was pretty happy with it, I thought I'd get in touch with Ozito and ask if they'd like to supply me with one for a review. To my surprise they got in touch pretty quick and sent me one out. If they said no, I was going to buy one anyway since they're only 120 bucks at bunnings with a 5 year warranty. If you prefer a video review you can see it here
Since I know some prefer a written review, I'll add some detail below.
Now I'd heard that these are a rebranded Einhell product which seems to get good wraps. Word on the street is the red power x change Ozito stuff is a step up from their grey branded items at bunnings. I can't speak to those 2 points, but I do have a heap of their grey tools and haven't had any probs anyway.
The saw is only a 18v, so you can't expect the power out of one that comes from a 36v 2 battery variant. What I was really interested in was, where it sat between my silky big boy hand saw
and my little 14 inch echo petrol chainsaw
These make up my usual equipment for camping, depending on location and fire wood or track clearing needs. I had a mate along as we were having a quick over nighter and thought it would be a good chance to test out the saw.
Specs wise it has a 10 inch bar which is easily removable (no tools) to make a smaller package for sticking in the car.
But the bar does look tiny compared to even the small bar of the echo
It's still a saw though in its own right and has requires bar oil and has a safety break mechanism.
Good stuff lighter than a petrol saw but still heavier than expected quieter than a petty no petrol required all but tool-less. a small screw driver is required for chain tightening seems to have good battery life(4ah) probably wouldn't use a 1.5ah . plenty for a couple of nights camping (within reason) not tested to flat but I have exhausted the battery using the other tools and it lasted a good amount of time break is quick when you stop cutting the saw stops. so is not using fuel or power. it didn't try and vibrate away when put down Simple to store and pack ( no petty required in the vehicle) Bunnings after sales back up. This is a biggie in my mind
Not so good When put down, someone (kids) may pick it up and however unlikely press the trigger. You need to either put the break on or pull the battery to be safe Majority of the saw is plastic save for the obvious bits not as much power as a petrol saw ( but you didn't expect it to....did you ? ) small bar but you know this going in.
As the saw body is all plastic (still feels robust) it is very easy to forget it's not a toy and could still do you harm if not handled correctly and safely. From a power perspective, we both found this perfect for camp duties where you just don't need a big saw. If you want big timber and in a hurry, this isn't for you. If you lean on the saw during a cut it will bog down, so you realise pretty quickly, slow and steady wins the race. Just back off the pressure a little and it will get there .
I did a test with both saws for speed, trying to make it as fair as possible picking wood that was near their bar length. The pics below tells the story there
Still during our camp test, it still went through some decent sized timber
So overall, this will probably get duties from this point on for camp fire wood or just chucking in the car where I 'might' need a saw. I found when I was considering taking a saw just in case, I often wouldn't because of the hassle with storing fuel. No such probs here, so it will get thrown in more often now, when I otherwise might not have taken one. The silky big boy will still be there for back up.
Since it can't be charged via 12v I will grab another battery and a 300w inverter to keep it charged from the 120ah aux battery in the back of the Paj.
So if for the $120 bucks if you already have some of the other tools in the line, its a no brainer I reckon and I would have been happy to spend the bucks on it.
If you need to buy the battery, skin and charger you're up for around 200 if not on sale. That makes the choice a little harder but not knowing what else is in the market, you will have to make your own judgement there.
Other than Ozito shooting this out to me, I've got no affiliation with them.
cheers Brett
-- Edited by denmonkey on Tuesday 18th of September 2018 09:30:40 PM
Have been thinking of getting my son one for Xmas.
What you didn't say, unless I missed it, was how long one charge of the bigger battery, lasts. Did you get to find out?
Also just a heads up re a possible issue. I have a 56v Ego which is bloody brilliant but I found that a 300w inverter could not charge the battery (may be OK with 18v though). All my 'expert' mates had varying theories and I ended up ringing Ego who said 300W was too small. Bought a 600W unit and now all good. I usually recharge whilst driving and it's done in a very short time.
Once again thanks. It's great to see an interesting post about something other than the usual mundane ones.
Great review, I have been wanting to buy a small chain saw, I was leaning towards a electric one but now I may buy myself a battery one, thank you for that review.
Last year while visiting my son in Austria I was given the job of cutting the logs of fire wood into the reqire size, then spitting them and storing for winter use. It had been a while say thirty years since I had the need to cut fire wood, that was with a petrol chain saw that muked up. Well this time I was using a Makita electric chain saw after 2 months of spare time work building the wood heap to last about 3 years I was sold, it worked a treat cutting into 300 to 350 dia logs.
Now needing a new battery powered drill it looks like a battery powered chain saw will join my other tools in travelling kit.
I'll stick with my petrol saws but the battery ones clearly have their place. Although I wonder what their battery life is? A saw would be hard on batteries, any idea how many discharge cycles the battery is specified for?
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I like me Ryobi battery chain saw goes well for cutting timber for me Oz pig ,one battery can cut enough timber for a few days.Had mine for about 2 years now.
Got a set of Ryobi 18v tools in the van including a chainsaw. I can recharge the battery on my 150W beer-can sized inverter plugged into my 105AH van battery. Nowhere as good as a petrol one but only needs bar-oil but it does work brilliantly for what it's meant for. Saves me carrying 2-stroke fuel.
Hi Lizard, I can't advise as yet mate. I went looking on the website for info but nothing to be found. I did see the fast charger does a 4ah in 80 minutes with the standard charger at 160mins. On checking out the other saws before looking at this one, others had said their 300w had been sufficient but obviously it will be charger dependant. I'll suss out the back of the one I have and look for some info. I'll let you know if I find anything that might answer your question. The slow charger would obviously have less draw but the fast one is 10 bucks more.
Moose, thanks for the heads up, as per above, that seemed to be the suggested wattage for an 18v. I'll be checking it out before hand though. All of my gear is 12v in the van, so an inverter will be a grudge purchase so the less money I spend on it the better .
I did consider a cheaper modified unit but others had also said they had issues there. So pure sine it will be. of course this could come in handy for other things too.
I'll keep your advice in my head when getting one though.
Re the battery, I didn't get a chance to full test it. I have used it on the pruner saw and trimmer for a full yards worth of work . I have a big yard with lots of trees and got a couple hours of solid work out of it.
The saw would be much more power hungry though, but I can't say I'm afraid.
If your son is just looking for camp duties, it's perfect. Any heavier and I'd say look to the 36v stuff or a petty.
If I could only have one, it would still be petrol...... for now. Plus I haven't handle a higher voltage unit for comparison.
I'm glad the review was useful. As per my OP I wasn't sure if anyone would be interested or not.
You're right too of course, there is only so much time you can spend in Solar :)
Radar.
Welcome.
The milwaukee stuff is getting some pretty huge wraps online for their battery chainsaws. I kept seeing them pop up again and again. Bigger bucks there though.
I've not yet used an electric saw (240v) by your post I'm gathering they go ok.
With regards to a battery drill, I must admit, I fought that one for a long time, but I've had a few now and I'm always happy with what they can do and not having to drag the cord around is a real bonus.
I still keep a powered one though for drilling metal and the like. Plus, you can't forget to charge them
Mike,
as per my comment to Moose re the battery.
No idea on the cycles but I went to check the site . No info there either but I did notice where I said in the video I thought the batteries had a 1 or 2 year warranty, I was wrong. It's a 3 year replacement warranty.
I wonder if that covers it just being used til it wont hold charge anymore?
That's massive for a battery that is getting used pretty hard.
Horses for courses and all that. I'm not selling my petrol saw anytime soon .
Barrie, what size is that battery. If I had to guess, I'd say 2 days worth of small to medium fire wood would be a reasonable ask but again, I'm yet to confirm that.
This was never going to be a professional saw either by price, brand or design. But I'm happy with what it can do.
How do you find the ozpig? I do like the look of those
thanks denmonkey ... that is exactly what I have found.
Nothing on the product or its packaging, on the Ozito webpage for either the chainsaw, or any of the appliances, that use that battery ie how much it draws for the recharge (Amps/watts) for the fast or slow charger.
I use my bowsaw 95% of the time so rarely use my petrol one as I only need small stuff for my choofer (elbow grease is cheap. ) ... if I need a campfire I jest drag logs to the site and slowly poke em through as they burn.
Cheers - John
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Ozito charger draws 72 watts. 300 watt inverter is heaps. Mine took less than an hour to get back to full charge. I don't think the draw is a problem unless you are sailing pretty close to the wind with your house batteries
Love Ozito "Power Exchange" cordless stuff.
Sure, maybe it is not designed for tradie use, but for the home handyman, just the ticket, and they all come with a 5 year warranty and 3 years on the batteries.
Bunnings are super easy to deal with for refunds or replacements, any branch will do, you don't have to return to the store of purchase.
Just staple your receipt to the instruction manual and keep those stored with all your other manuals.
As for the Ozito chainsaws, (petrol & cordless) they are awesome, however, the chains are sh!t Chinese muck metal and are blunted fairly easily so buy yourself a 4mm chain file from the tool shop while you are at it.
Also, I have always found that the depth gauges are too high, so I recommend you take a flat file to them to take a smidgen off them each time when sharpening.
Replacement chains with proper chrome teeth can be ordered on ebay for approx. $12 delivered.
Just staple your receipt to the instruction manual and keep those stored with all your other manuals.
I now scan all receipts worth keeping - much easier to find the soft copy on my computer than the paper one. Additionally some inks/paper fade very badly after a year or so.
__________________
"I beseech you in the bowels of Christ think it possible you may be mistaken"
Oliver Cromwell, 3rd August 1650 - in a letter to the General Assembly of the Kirk of Scotland
Returned a Ozito torch the other day to my local Bunnings and couldn't find the receipt but all I had to do was show them my driving license and they replaced the torch with no more questions.
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In life it is important to know when to stop arguing with people
and simply let them be wrong.
Just bought an Aldi $99 petrol chainsaw to cut a small tree down. It did the job very well but the chain tensioner/cover mechanism distorts when the chain is tight enough and it leaked quite a lot of bar oil. For $99 I am keeping it but when it dies I'll probably get one of the Ozitos - I had a little Lithium Ozito drill/driver/sander set for $79 a few years back and it has been awesome and now sits in the Ute when we go camping (well apart from the sander tool).
so the less money I spend on it the better .
) ... if I need a campfire I jest drag logs to the site and slowly poke em through as they burn.
